11 Smithfield properties considered for preservation

Eleven Smithfield Township properties totaling 1,000 acres could be designated as parks or open space some day under an official township map being considered for adoption tonight.

DAVID PIERCE

Eleven Smithfield Township properties totaling 1,000 acres could be designated as parks or open space some day under an official township map being considered for adoption tonight.

The township's first official map — four years in the making — is a land use tool allowed under the state Municipalities Planning Code. It notes locations of existing public streets, open space, parks and waterways, in addition to properties that could become parks or open space in the future.

"If it's on the official map, what it means and only means is we ask for consideration" for municipal purchase and preservation, Supervisors Chairman Brian Barrett said. "If it's up for sale, we would be involved — if we have the money."

Supervisors could adopt the map following a public hearing at its regular meeting, which begins at 7 p.m.

Properties eyed for preservation include an unused parcel bought by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for the Marshalls Creek bypass. PennDOT decided not to use the parcel after the bypass project was scaled back.

The former bypass property at Mount Nebo Road is contiguous to Mount Nebo Regional Park. It's also where a dinosaur was excavated in the early 1960s; it is now in the possession of the state museum in Harrisburg.

Also on the future preservation list "just in case" is the East Stroudsburg Borough water works property around Brushy Mountain and Reservoir roads. A nearby farm and other contiguous private properties also are included.

The 11 potential future open space properties were reduced from what originally had been 300 parcels considered for future designation.

"We felt it was too extensive," Barrett said. "We pared it down."

Owners were contacted to see if they were agreeable to the designation.

"If they felt they did not want their property on, we would not put it on," Barrett said.